Brave New World
by NukeMyWaffle
Summary: The World We Knew Is Gone. The World We Know is a Perversion. This is a Declaration of War Upon This World to Cleanse the Unpure. This is to Cleanse This So-called "BRAVE NEW WORLD"....
1. Prologue

This is going to be one of my more..."interesting" concoctions, to say the least. And yes, I know this chapter is short but it's just the beginning, relax. And if it will make it easier for you, I will put up a list of ages, occupations and affiliations with each chapter.

That of course, will have to be in your PM or review or even an e-mail with "FF.N Brave New World" as the subject or I will just ignore it.

Now, on with the show.

* * *

Ghost in the Shell: SAC-SSS/Full Metal Alchemist/Fushigi Yuugi

Death Note/Mai-Hime/Code Geass/Sailor Moon/Shaman King

Naruto/Bleach/Karas/InuYasha

**"Brave New World"**

**-**

**Prologue**

**-**

It was _disgusting_, this apartment the Prefectural police had been called out to. They had cleared the unsanitary domain and had found no one inside so far. All they had left was _one_ closed door and in _this_ pigstye, there was _no_ telling what lay behind it.

A police officer stepped forward to the door, reaching for the knob, and his foot _squished_ in something pooling out from the crack. His hand closed around the knob and he blanched as he pulled his hand away, a couple of his fellow chuckling at the look on his face. When he realized there was something on his hand, he immediately wiped the expression off his face.

"Hey, Sawada, come closer for a sec." He requested, rubbing his thumb and index and middle fingers together.

"You're not going to wipe that crap on me." Sawada protested. "I'm _married_, remember?"

"No, genius. I need your _light_." The other cop shot back. Sawada mumbled a quick apology and stepped forward, drawing out and turning on his flash light. He shined the beam on the other officer's hand as he repeated the rubbing motion and pulled his digits apart, something gooing stretching out in tendrils and strings between them.

"What _is_ that?" Sawada whispered.

"No idea." The other cop responded. "Shine it at my feet."

Sawada did as he was told and a pool of greenish yellow mixed with red good was puddling just a few inches from the door. Sawada and the cop exchanged a look and then Sawada turned to shout down the hall.

"Call the Intervention Department! We've got _fiend_ activity!"

* * *

Oh, yeah. Japanese cops get all the "glamorous" cases, don't they?

Okay, I know this is short, as I said before, but if you read the actual Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex novels, you'll (hopefully) notice that I'm following the same style. And yes, I have all three and I LOVE reading them.

I just have to finish the last couple of paragraphs on the next chapter and then I'll put it up...most likely tomorrow, since it's 9:10 at night over here and I have to help with dinner. Wa-hoo.

In the mean time--please, read and review.


	2. Chapter 1

Welcome to the First Chapter, everybody!

Reviews:

**Black Convoy:** Sounds like fun, huh? Wait until you see what's coming up.

Now, on with the show! (cough-cough)

* * *

Ghost in the Shell: SAC-SSS/Full Metal Alchemist/Fushigi Yuugi

Death Note/Mai-Hime/Code Geass/Sailor Moon/Shaman King

Naruto/Bleach/Karas/InuYasha

**"Brave New World"**

**-**

**Chapter 1**

**-**

The Intervention Department was technically a part of the National Police Agency but the various flavors of the Prefectural Police had far more need of them. And as NPA departments went, the Intervention Department had the least number of investigators but the most success in their cases. The entire department consisted of 6 individuals total but only 4 field agents and 2 lab technitions. The field agents were comprised off a father of one, his son-in-law and a pair of 21-year-old who had _far_ more speciality for their new job than their completely human seniors.

And one of the 21-year-olds had crashed on the couch, one leg over the arm and his head propped up on the other, snoring away softly. The other 21-year-old was sitting at a desk, leaning back in the chair with her feet propped up on the desk itself, idly blowing bubbles with a white cat curled up on her lap, the cat purring in its sleep. She watched the bubbles float through the air with little to no interest and merely watched them decay until they popped under their own power or landed on something that popped them instead.

The door to the office opened and their senior partners entered the room, being greeted by a stream of bubbles that had caught the perfect air current to travel so far. The younger of the two seniors waved at the bubbles with a laugh and a file folder, the elder of the two stepping around him with a smile.

"Someone's got a bit of free time today." The younger senior chuckled, popping a bubble with a single poke of a finger.

"They say that you can see into other worlds if you merely look through a humble soap bubble." The elder senior commented as he came to the desks and pulled out the chair from under one covered in talismans and charms.

"Really, Mr. Sagisaka?" The younger of the two asked. A bubble he had failed to catch popped in his face, having bumped into his nose.

"You'd have to ask the little lady, Inspector Kurei. She has the best advantage to see into them as she gives them shape." Sagisaka chuckled as the landline on his desk started ringing. The white cat lifted its head up, opening sleepy sky blue eyes, and looked over at the eldest partner, revealing a gold bell and a gold circular tag that had _Grimmjow_ engraved on it in black loopy English scrawl over a frosted calligraphied "6" hanging off a black collar studded with little silver skulls with light blue rhinestone eyes with aqua rhinestones spaced evenly between them.

Sagisaka picked up the landline and put it to his ear as the 21-year-old young woman scratched the cat behing the ears, getting it to lean into her hand a purr happily at being loved on. The sleeping 21-year-old woke with a slight jerk at the sudden silence and sat up, wiping off the corner of his mouth and rubbing the back of his head.

"Intervention Department, Minoru Sagisaka speaking." Sagisaka greeted with a half smile that soon faded. "You found _what_ at the apartment?" He soon had the undivided attention of all 3 fellow investigators. "Be clear, dammit! Do you or do you _not_ have evidence of activity that requires our attention?" Sagisaka wrote something down on a post-it and held up "PP Rookie" with an unimpressed scowl. "Get me your senior…no, I'm going to wait right here while you do it. Go on, idgit. Hurry up."

The once-sleeping 21-year-old popped his neck and then rubbed the back of it, as if it was stiff from the way he had been sleeping. "I miss out on all the fun?"

"Not yet, apparently." Kurei remarked. "Why don't you two get geared up and ready to go? I'm sure this is going to mean a roll out."

"Well, _that's_ gonna be fun." The 21-year-old on the couch muttered, standing up. The young woman closed the bottle of bubbles and set it on the desk before dropping her feet, her cat leaping from her lap to her shoulder and snaking under her hair to curl up around her neck. She got to her feet as the young man stretched his body and then headed for a door along the back wall, the young woman following after him.

The door closed with a soft snap behind her, cutting the two young adults and cat from their office. The young man went to one of the lockers against a wall and unlocked the door, the young woman's cat slinking off from its perch to sit in the bench in front of the lockers.

"Am I the _only_ one who thinks we're gonna get banged up in this?" The young man asked as the young woman unlocked another locker.

"It's always a possibility in our line of work." She admitted, opening her locker. The cat just kept quiet, looking from its apparent mistress to the young man just a few lockers down.

The young man was about 6 feet even or 6-foot-1 with the long limbs and build that said he had the strength to fight back and do some serious damage. His orange hair was short and spiky and his brown eyes were still a bit tired from his nap. He wore a white dress shirt over a blue wife beater, the collar unbuttoned, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and the back of the overshirt tucked in; washed blue jeans that covered hid black boots and leather belt through his belt loops. The belt helped to keep his loaded shoulder rig in place and held the loaded holster at the small of his back and the knife sheath at his left hip.

He strapped a knife to his right bicep and put a pair of leather cuffs around his wrists. He took a pair of wrap around sunglasses off the top shelf of his locker and put them on, only to push them to the top of his head. He unhooked his coat from a hook and draped it over his arm, not ready to wear the fleece-lined denim coat quite yet. He tucked his pocket into his back pocket, a chain leading from his pocekt to a front belt loop with his keys on a short extension and tucked into his front pocket with his spare change. He put his cell phone into his other front pocket and then sat on the bench, slouching a little.

His scruffy professional look was like the two gold hoops in his left ear lobe, meant to be a misdirection once he put on his coat. He'd look like any other 21-year-old male who was looking for a good drink and some company. It was because of this casual appearance that helped him melt into the background and to be overlooked. It had always paid off to have someone in the crowd to go unnoticed on some cases, just like a pretty lure could get a confession where normal police work couldn't.

The young woman, in constrast, was barely tall enough to look over the young man's shoulder in her boots with a build that was both seductive and seriously lethal, like a war goddess brought down to Earth. She had long black hair down to her hips and swept up into a semi ponytail, a pair of long feathers and a pair of small gold bells with a mother of pearl and ivory flower charm on a braided cord of leather and silk tipped with beads wrapped around hait tie before tied into a bow, her long bangs brushed off to the right for a moment and two thin braids coming from above her left temple tucked behind her right ear; and her amethyst eyes were lined with black and accented with a dark purple line, a pair of streamline oval glasses framing her peepers. Her lips were glossed a darkened rose pink and her long nails were given a shimmering French manicure with blue rhinestones.

She was dressed in a baby blue tube top with blue hem and flower petals drifting towards the bottom of her shirt across the front left corner, and a pair of dark blue low rider jeans that were tucked into her knee high black boots. She wore a white snake skin and fang belt with a silver belt buckle that bore a Native American tribal symbol and four mortuary tablets secured to the back, holsters hook to the belt and strapped to her thighs on her left and right, angled to avoid her front pockets. Her loaded shoulder rig would have chauffed her bare shoulders if the straps weren't lined with satin to prevent it. She had a black choker around the throat and a gold star within a ring and a blue crystal around her neck; and on her ears, she had a pair of steel spiral dangle earrings in her main piercings followed by 2 studs in her ear lobes and a pair of blue jewels in an ornate setting and 2 plain studs in her upper ears. There was a single stud in her right nostril and a single barbell in her belly button.

She had a sky blue bead bracelet and a silver chain bracelet with a revolving disk charm around her right wrist with a gold ring on her middle finger and a dark maroon ring on her thumb bearing a white symbol, a black circular tattoo on her palm with a red-orange swirl on her right bicep, the swirl covered automatically by a black spandex cuff. Around her left wrist was a silver cuff with a red jewel between a pair of spread wings and bangles of wolf fangs and seed beads connected together with a silver ring on her middle finger, a gold cuff ring with a claw ornament on her pinky and a spiral band with a blue bead at the bottom and a blue metal rose with a diamond center at the top, around her thumb. A silver chain hooked to a belt loop let to her left front pocket and had 7 charms that were identical save for their different colors, hanging from it.

She had stiletto knife hilts barely sticking out of the tops of her boots, the legs stopping just a finger's width or two below her knees. Her two braids were tipped with braids—one bone with black engravings, one made of jade with a yinyang engraved into it, and one pale pink crystal on each braid—and went passed her hips, often getting tucked behind her left ear like her long bangs hit her mid cheek and were brushed out of her way to the right but still fell to hide her right eye and half her glasses.

Taking her lady's leather coat with a blue jewel set in an ornate gold lapel pin off its hook, she didn't hesitate to pull it on but didn't button it, leaving her items quickly accessible. She took a black harness and leash off another hook and turned to the bench, crouching in front of it.

"Come here, Grimmjow. We'll make this quick." She told the cat, getting a rather _unhappy_ look. "You know the rules' Grimm. I'll take off the leash when we get to the scene, okay?"

Grimmjow scowled at the harness then let his mistress put it on him and held still as she fussed with it to make sure it was comfortable for him. She scratched him behind the ears, getting him to smile, purr and lean into her touch.

She smiled softly at her cat before taking her hand away and taking a black katana out of her locker, the crossguard non existant and a leather strap buckled to it, the ends framing a pair of spread bird's wings and the circular item the wings themselves framed. She put the sword on her back and the leather strap came to life, the lowest buckle coming undone and the strap wrapping around her, coming to buckle itself by the dark gold cap at the bottom of the sheath that had just appeared. The cap soon had a matching pummel cap on the sword, a leather throng with a couple stylized metal feathers on the ends acting as the charm, the feathers lightly tinkling as they bumped one another.

"You ready?" The young man asked as she hooked the loop of Grimmjow's leash around her right wrist. He looked at the sword hilt behind her right shoulder. "Do you think that you'll need that?"

"Rather have it all and not need it, than needing it and not having it." She quipped, getting a conceeding nod from the young man. Grimmjow waited for her to sweep her hair off her back and drape it down her right shoulder, before he leapt onto her left shoulder. "Do you still have that bad feeling?"

"Yeah, I do an' I don't like the timing of it." He muttered, meeting her gaze solidly.

The locker room door opened, making the 21-year-olds look at Kurei poking his head. "Hotaru, Ichigo—you two geared up and ready?"

"Yeah, Kurei." The young man said, getting to his feet. He pulled on his coat as he walked to the door. "We're ready to go. Where we going?"

"The Afudamuri Apartment complexes." Kurei answered, getting the two younger partners to look at each other in shock. "Yeah, we know. Come on, we've got confirmed activity from the senior detective on scene. We need to get there as fast as possible."

"We'll be right there." The young man reassured. Kurei pulled back and the young man looked at the young woman. "Those are those apartments with the fiend gates in their zen gardens. Like I said, I don't like the timing of it. Looks like you'll need that sword after all, Hotaru."

The young woman sighed, reaching up and scratching Grimmjow behind the ears as the young man opened the door for them to leave. "Yeah, Ichigo…I'm afraid that I'll have to use it, too."

* * *

Wow, she's definitely geared up to go, isn't she?

I wonder what the future holds for the Intervention Department....hmmm.....maybe I should stop letting the stories write themselves....

Nah!

Plz, Read and review!


	3. Chapter 2

Welcome to Chapter 2! This is, I guess, kinda longish. I HAD to introduce part of the plot in this--yes, yes, I know--an NMW story with an actual PLOT?! (Insert Gasps of Horror and Amazement) Who knew, right?

(cough) Sorry. I let someone I don't normally beta-read, beta-read for me and he was being a "sarcastic" ass about the fact that I had some say in how this story was going to write itself. We call him The ISH Bastard even to his face because his response is usually (literally) "Insert Sarcasm Here" even at a serious moment....yeah, like I said, the ISH Bastard.

So, yeah--NEVER going to let him beta-read for me unless I'm REALLY desperate...and maybe not even then.

Reviews:

**Harpygirl91:** Harpy-chan! Long time, no review! You were missed! ^^

You think this is interesting, do ya? Then....then let's hope I can keep it that way....heh heh... ^^;

Anyway--on with the show.....

* * *

Ghost in the Shell: SAC-SSS/Full Metal Alchemist/Fushigi Yuugi

Death Note/Mai-Hime/Code Geass/Sailor Moon/Shaman King

Naruto/Bleach/Karas/InuYasha

**"Brave New World"**

**-**

**Chapter 2**

**-**

The Afudamuri Apartment Complexes consisted of at least 8 different multi-storied buildings in two groups of four, each courtyard having their own playground for kids, a zen garden with the fore mentioned fiend gate and a koi pond and apartments of varying sizes within each building. There was a children's park and a good elementary school close by and a nice children's clinic and a few stores just a bit further on. It was only a handful of blocks from a train stop and there were at least two bus stops in the immediate area. It was a nice place to live and it was a relatively quiet area of Niihama…until the occasional call out brought the police around and the residents started to wonder if they weren't in a troubled area after all.

Hotaru remembered coming to this complex when they were first being constructed and the fiend gates were being put in. She had seen the same gates going up in various _other_ locations all around town, giving the fiends, demons and spirits a quick way to get to away from humans. These gate helped boost the spiritual and elemental harmony within the city and in such a war-ravaged time with technology on the all time high, it was a necessary addition to the city construction plans.

"Either of you remember when we got the _last_ time you've been to this place?" Sagisaka asked of Hotaru and Ichigo in the back seat of the car as Kurei pulled up between a pair of marked police cars.

"Back when they put in the gates." Hotaru said.

"Back when one of the Gotei 13 captains wanted to move to the world of the living and wanted to take a look at the apartments." Ichigo admitted. "The last call out we got from here was the lesser demons that got killed in one of the buildings' basements. 'Member _that_ one, Hotaru?"

Hotaru snorted softly. "I couldn't get the taste of decayed demon out of my mouth for over a week. It was hell."

Kurei turned off the engine and the members of the Intervention Department got out of the car, Grimmjow on Hotaru's shoulder again. Hotaru closed her door and felt the katana on her back hum softly at the proximity of the fiend gates. She looked around quickly found the apartment that they were needed at. As SOP, they would have vacated the residents on the floor, 3 floors up and 3 floors down but when fiend activity was confirmed, they had vecated _everyone_ out of the building and it looked like they were all waiting at the barricades with the spectators, waiting to go back inside their homes.

"Go on up, you two." Sagisaka instructed. "Inspector Kurei and I will handle everything down here. Let us know what you find out."

"Not a problem. C'mon, Firefly." Ichigo nodded, heading towards the apartment building. Hotaru scratched Grimmjow under the chin as she trailed after Ichigo without saying a word. Now Ichigo's bad feeling was rubbing off on her because she was feeling more and more apprehensive the closer they came to the apartment building.

Hotaru fell into step beside him, getting Ichigo to look at her. "You okay, Firefly? Your reishi's spiked."

"Your bad feeling's rubbed off on me." Hotaru told him softly as they reached the police tape line just passed the cars. Ichigo took his badge wallet from his coat's inner breast pocket and flashed his badge to the uniform at the line. Hotaru took out hers from a similar location and did the same. The uniform looked at both then lifted the tape to let them through. Ichigo still had to duck under, being taller than the shorter officer's reach but Hotaru passed under the line no problem.

Grimmjow hissed at the uniformed man, slipping in between Hotaru's head and the hilt of her katana. Hotaru paid the officer no heed as Ichigo stopped and looked back, hearing the cat start growling darkly at the officer.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ichigo snapped at the man unhappily. "There's a _crime scene_ over our heads and you've got the goddamn nerve to look at my _partner_ like she's just a piece of ass?"

"No cop dresses like that." The officer muttered to Ichigo. "She looks more like hooker. She ain't undercover; I work in undercover an' she ain't one of us."

"We're Intervention Department." Ichigo saw the surprise in the man's face. "You hear of _shunko_, dumbass? It makes it impossible for the users to where anything that covers their shoulders and upper back—and the only things like that in _her_ size is tops like _that_. So get your _hand_ outta your pants and shut the fuck up. We don't have _time_ for your goddamn porno fantasies."

Hotaru continued onto the apartment building, leaving Ichigo to deal with the cop. She reached the front gate, where another officer was standing guard. Hotaru gave him her ID and he took a good look at the picture and then at her, then flipped through the accompanying plastic pages to look at her other credentials.

"May I see your watch, Lieutenant Colonel?" The officer at the gate requested. Hotaru took the pocket watch out her pocket and showed it to the man. He closed her wallet of credentials and handed it back to her as she put her watch back in her pocket. "Sorry for the second degree, ma'am. Had to make sure. And don't mind the idiot at the tap, ma'am. Transfer rookie."

"It's all right." Hotaru reassured, tucking her ID away as the officer opened the gate for her.

Hotaru passed by him and walked the short distance to the lift. The young officer inside the lift opened the gate for her without even asking for her identification and pressed the button for the floor the crime scene was on. Hotaru leaned up against the back of the lift, her eyes closed and Grimmjow on her shoulder with his paws and head on her head, looking around through the mesh sides of the moving box.

"Not like the lift at home, is it, Grimm?" Hotaru asked the cat, getting a meow in return.

"You think it's wise to bring your pet to a crime scene, ma'am?" The young officer asked, glancing back at Hotaru. He wasn't fighting to not look at her chest, which made her glance at his left hand—yep, _married_.

"He's not so much a pet as he is my partner." Hotaru told him, lightly tapping her temple.

"Oh, a shell pet or a bio-pet body with a human ghost, huh?" So, the married officer knew about that kind of thing, did he?

"Your wife work around prosthetics?" Hotaru asked, getting the officer to look at his ring than smile at the realization that she had seen it.

"Pediatric cyberization and prosthesis at the Kohoku Cyberization Hospital." The officer nodded. "She got to see such weird things like your friend there…but from the way he's moving around, I'm thinking he's something else but he's still got that 'humanoid' feel to him, if you don't mind me saying so, ma'am."

"He's definitely a 'something else'." Hotaru looked at him over the tops of her glasses and then pushed them up higher on her nose. "When you get home, officer, no matter _what_ time, wake up your wife and tell her how much she means to you. And if you have kids, do the same. Whatever you do, do _not_ bring this home with you. Leave it in the car, at the station, outside the door—just do _not_ bring it into your home. It will be hard but it's the only way you're going to be able to hold it together for the long run."

The officer looked at her with grattitude and gave her a nod and a soft smile. "Yes, ma'am. I'll do just that. Thank you for the advice."

The lift came to a stop and the officer opened the lift to let her out on to the needed floor. Grimmjow sat back on her shoulder and Hotaru exited the lift, heading towards the taped off apartment. She passed a man in a _much_ different uniform but didn't pay any attention to him, seeing a small number of policemen with their heads between their knees and far from the door as possible.

What was so horrible beyond that door which had seasoned cops running for fresh air?

"Ho-Hotaru?"

Stopping half way to the door and turning part way around to see who had said her name, Hotaru saw the different uniform she had passed. It was a uniform she knew quite well, having one of her own in her closet. This man had short black hair and gold eyes behind rectangle glasses with facial hair along his chin and jawline. He too had a gold band around his left ring finger but it was older with a couple scratches from hard work over the years.

It took Hotaru a couple minutes to recognize who this was but she gave them a soft smile. "Good evening, Hughes."

Hughes seemed surprised that he had been correct, only snapping back to reality when his cell phone started giving him a dial tone. He quickly hung up and put it in his pocket, giving Hotaru his full attention now. He gave her a smile and came to her side.

"It's been so long. I can't believe that it took me so long to recognize you." Hughes said good naturedly with a chuckle. "Gracia and I have been wondering when you're going to drop by and Alicia's been asking about you. I thought you were still doing that investigation in Munich—I mean, I heard it was still on-going and last I heard you were over there—5, maybe 4 years ago."

"I was needed else where." Hotaru smiled softly. "I'm with the Intervention Department now."

"The Intervention Department, you?" Hughes repeated. "One would think that would be a waste of their talent."

"It's one of the jobs I'm qualified for and I can still go home at the end of the day." Hotaru replied with a soft shrug. Grimmjow meowed, getting Hughes' attention. "Oh, how rude of me. Brigadier General Maez Hughes, meet Grimmjow, my currently four-legged companion."

"You're the only State Alchemist that I know that can get away with having your _pet_ at work with you when you're working for someone else." Hughes sighed, scratching Grimmjow under the jaw.

"Grimm gets into the impossible places for me. He's more of a partner than a pet." Hotaru informed Hughes with a soft smile, getting Grimmjow to nuzzle her. "Like the way Black Hayate and Lieutenant Hawkeye function. If you'll excuse us, Hughes, we have a crime scene to look at."

"Oh, of course. I was just calling headquarters to see which State Alchemist they were going to send but I kept getting the run around." Hughes motioned for Hotaru to take the lead. Hotaru started towards the apartment with Hughes at her heel. "I'm glad it's you, honestly. There aren't very many of you that have a strong stomach and are still among the sane, the free and the living."

"Especially that first one." Hotaru muttered in agreement with a quirk of a smile on her lips.

The faint stentch of death was _far_ stronger for Hotaru, making her hand fly up to her nose and take a large step back. Hughes looked at her mildly surprised, then at Grimmjow who sounded like he was sneezing. Hotaru reached into her coat pocket and took out a tin of tiny mints. She opened the tin and took a small mint out, giving it to Grimmjow who took it instantly. Hotaru gave herself two before closing the tin and putting it back in her pocket.

"Your senses have gotten sharper." Hughes observes, standing by the door. "Most of the guys don't smell it until they're half way through the walk-through."

"I'm 21, Hughes. My senses only get stronger with age." She pointed out, striding across the apartment's threshold. She stooped at the entryway and put the fingertips of a hand on the hardwood floor, looking deeper into the apartment and looking around. "…the threshold's no longer pure. It won't do anything to wear shoes inside."

"You can tell that by touching the floor?" Hughes asked as he watched her step up onto the hardwood. She walked a few steps further and then unhooked Grimmjow's collar, letting the cat jump from her shoulder as she tucked the leash into her other pocket.

"The grounds and each apartment were given protective seals and charms once each was completed. Doing so much evil or dark intent and the karmic scrubbers, for lack of a better term, get used up to the point where it's no longer a problem to wear your shoes inside." Hotaru explained distractedly, looking in the coat closet by the door. Grimmjow peered in and then slunk down the hall, reminding Hughes a little of Black Hayate in investigative mode.

Hotaru slowly ran her hand over the wall next to her. "Death is soaked into the walls, new and old…" She took her hand from the wall and glanced at Hughes. "Did they find bodies?"

"Only a few were in large pieces while the others were chopped up into segements that could fit into plastic bags but yes, mixed in with the comparatively scant amount of garabage. The Prefectural Police set to work clearing out all the bags, trash and bodies while the Intervention Department was notified and responded." Hughed told her, bringing up the information in his Cyberbrain. "There was evidence of possible alchemis involvement. I was called in to confirm it and then they were to call in a State Alchemist. I can _taste_ the alchemy in the air but I can't find any evidence of it."

"It's a side effect of bringing you back with a method that required alchemy as a portion of the equation…you'll be able to taste, feel and recognize transmutational activity from now on." Hotaru murmured distracted again, crouching and putting her fingers against the hardwood. "The wood's thicker here than it should be…..no, not thicker…"

"Compressed?" Hughes supplied.

"…yes, exactly…" Hotaru mumbled rising to stand again. "Something of significant weight walked the same path almost everyday." She locked her eyes on the bedroom down directly down the hall from her. "Has anyone checked behind that door, gone anywhere near it?"

"Not since evidence of fiend involvement was confirmed by the puddle of mixed blood. We collected the evidence for you and even sent the cop who stepped in it to your lab rats already, not sure what to expect when coming in contact with a mixture of human and fiend blood." The higher ranked State officer informed the girl as hotaru started towards the door. She wasn't more than half way before Grimmjow came out of the small room he had been inspected and fell into padded step at her heel. "The bathroom and that bedroom where filled with the bags, corpses and garbarge. We got it all out and turned it over to the NPA forensics."

"State forensics has better equipment." Hotaru commented off handedly. Grimmjow stopped a third of the way from the door while Hotaru stepped closer.

"Hey, Firefly—you in here already?" Ichigo called out, looking around before looking forward.

"Mrow!" Grimmjow meowed, getting Ichigo's attention.

"Oh, there you are. You're all black from behind, Firefly." Ichigo remarked. "Oh, hey, Hughes."

"Ichigo Kurosaki—you stuck in the Intervention Department, too?" Hughes teased, shaking the young man's hand.

"Hey, don't knock it until you try it. We get less paper work than anyone else." Ichigo chuckled as hotaru stopped on the edge of the congealing puddle coming from under the door and reached her hand towards the closed barrier. Her hand stopped a hair from the surface and her eyes snapped wide with a faint gasp, instantly getting Ichigo's attention. "…_shit_…."

"What?" Hughes asked, clueless but recognizing that something was up.

The weird design on Hotaru's sword suddenly opened to reveal the face of a watch and then it _blinked_, turning into a real eye that moved around in its socket and blinked. An ethereal ring chimed in the air, an aura starting to form around everything. Grimmjow suddenly started hissing at the door, not moving closer.

"Hughes—down!" Ichigo grabbed Hughes' jacket as the aura over took them, both men falling to the ground as something dark and fierce broke through the door like a giant bullet from a gigantic gun and catching Hotaru around the waist, taking her out the door and through the floor railing in the air above the empty contained area.

"Ka-ra-ssss!" The thing hissed venomously at Hotaru. Hotaru pushed herself up from being bent over the creature and rammed her knee into its chest as hard as she could. A strangled shout left its lungs as it was forced to release Hotaru. The young woman pushed off the creature and flipped in the air, a gold mandala firing out of the eye on her sword and growing larger to allow her to pass through it.

As soon as Hotaru passed through it, she was no longer in her street clothes and her various armaments, but in a dark red satin bodice top, a pleated black mini skirt with black knee high boots that had stiletto heels and laced up the front, a dark wine colored coat with white fur on the hems, cuffs and hood and black designs scrawled on the arms and back sliding off her shoulders. She had a black choker around her neck and her blue crystal with her hair pulled back in a high ponytail, her bangs falling in her face. Her lips and nails were dark red and she had black fingerless gloves on her hands with her glasses on her face and her piercings all in place. Her Karas sword was in her right hand.

Hotaru rose from her momentum-canceling crouch and watched the creature recover and cirle over head with an angry hiss. It did _not_ like her and hotaru had to admit for putting her in _this_ outfit when it was _this_ frickin' cold—the feeling was _mutual_.

"Karas." A pretty voice said, making Hotaru look at the girl next to her that glowed a pale, thoer-worldly light. "You _must_ get rid of that creature. It was once a fiend but no more. If it escapes, this will only repeat itself. You _must_ ilimenante that thing."

"Yes, Yurine." Hotaru nodded to the girl.

"Then go, Karas. And protect your territory." Yurine commanded.

Hotaru fell backwards off the gazebo, another gold mandala appearing behind her. In a well mastered flip onto her feet, Hotaru passed effortlessly through the mandala and then landed on the concrete with the soft tap of cement and metal.

As a Karas, Hotaru's armor sculpted her figure with armor panels on her sides, abdomen, chest, shoulders and back. Armor panels down her arms and legs gave her long talons and stiletto heels with a fine chainmail tunic skirt on the front and back. Her helmet covered her lower face with a fosted steel panel with pulsing blue tear trails down her "cheeks" and her upper face was hidden by a darker piece of steel with bright glowing blue eyes, a raven curved around her head. The wings came around the sides of her face, the head sat on her forehead and the long tails were long feathers that trailed down her back. Between the spaces of her dark blue, royal purple and dark steel colored armor was a black undersuit. Her sword had multiplied, becoming two and literally crossing at the small of her back and chained closed.

"Karas!" One of the Prefectural Police exclaimed, point at Hotaru and getting her to look at him. She looked from the startled police officer and the other municipal cops to Kurei and Sagisaka. Kurei just gave her the fond "there you go again, making a scene" smile and head shake. Sagisaka looked up at the thing in the air and then at Hotaru.

"Well, don't just stand there, Little Lady. Show these unis what a Karas can do." Sagisaka told Hotaru, motioning to the creature over their heads. Hotaru silently gave him a nod then looked back up at the thing overhead, watching it circle.

Hotaru's Yurine held up a feather and then swiped the air between her and Hotaru with it, the feather passing over Hotaru's figure. "Take to the skies, Karas, as the crow that you are."

"Yes, Yurine." Hotaru crouched and large metal bird wings shot out of her back and rose up as straight as they could stretch before sweeping down and throwing Hotaru into the sky.

"Wow, so _that's_ Karas." A uniform murmured in awe at Hotaru upward shot and the collision with the creature, taking it higher out of harm's way.

"Close, that's _a_ Karas." Another uniform corrected, watching in unusual dogfight in the sky. "There's one in every district, every city. They protect everything whether human, demon or fiend….and _this_ one's one tough cookie."

"She has to be." Kurei said, watching with a half smile. "She's one of the High Seven, after all."

The two uniforms looked at him. "A _High Seven_ Karas?!"

"Yup, a High Seven and a Mikura turned Karas." Kurei confirmed with a gentler smile now. "That's the _living_ Karas, the Karas of _Souls_."

"The living Karas…" The first uniform breathed in awe.

"Karas of Souls….wow." The second mumbled in agreement.

8-8

Ichigo got off the floor, pulling Hughes to his feet. Hughes cautiously went to the door and then to the hole in the railing, looking down at the pavillion below. He stumbled back, a Karas shooting _straight_ passed him and into the sky, colliding with that _thing_ with a hard echoing _thwack_.

"Shit, there's a _Karas_ here." Hughes muttered as Ichigo took his handkerchief from his pocket and covered his nose and mouth, stepping onto the air as if it were solid. Grimmjow leapt up onto the "as if solid" air as well and followed Ichigo to a clean spot inside the room itself.

Hughes turned back to the apartment in time to see Ichigo slip into the bedroom. He walked back into the apartment and to the door, debris from the door littering the ground and sticking in the blood.

"Ichigo—there's a real, honest-to-God _Karas_ outside!" Hughes said, pointing towards the door and trying _not_ to breath in the noxious smell of death, decay and God-knew-what else from the room.

"Yeah, probably." Ichigo responded, his comment muffled by his handkerchief.

"Do you know how _rare_ it is to _see_ a Karas, let alone watch one _fight_?" Hughes asked, trying to convince Ichigo to come watch with him.

"Go watch the Karas of Souls kick ass, Hughes." Ichigo instructed, looking around.

"The Karas of _Souls_?!" Hughes repeated. "We have a member of the _High Seven_ saving our asses and you don't want to _watch_?!"

"I'm fine where I am, Hughes. Go ahead and go watch." Ichigo dismissed, taking a flash light from an inner pocket of his jacket. He turned it on and looked around, scanning the walls and ceiling while either stepping in a clean spot or on the air itself. Grimmjow was walking on the air now, near what looked like a rough handed sketch of a Shinto gate on the wall across from the door.

"You're in the Intervention Department!" Hughes groused, going back to the walkway to watch the fight. "And you don't _want_ to watch a High Seven kick ass?!"

"I'll show you my memories some time, Hughes. You'll shit bricks when you get a glimpse at what I get to see on a regular basis." Ichigo muttered behind his handkerchief. He glanced at Hughes watching Hotaru fight high above their heads and looked back at the symbols painted on the walls. "…she is _not_ going to like this…she is _sooo_ going to hate this…."

8-8

"Die, Ka-ra-ssss!" The creature darted at Hotaru, obviously on a collision course. Hotaru gripped the hilts of her swords, her Yurine watching on from the corner of the closest building.

"Do it, Karas." Yurine commanded, the chains glowing amber before shattering and freeing her swords. Hotaru pulled them from their scabbards and the pure steel blades gleamed like moonlight in the electric lighting of the city.

Hotaru shot forward, her blades nothing more than gleaming streamers—all this but a blur to those below. To the Yurine, she saw every move down to the last detail. Hotaru came to a stop feet away and resheathing her blades. As soon as the hilts and the scabbards met, the creature exploded into bright green fire and dropped towards the ground, burning away until it was nothing but a speck of ash that dissolved before it touched the concrete far below.

Hotaru descended until her heels clicked onto the cement, her Yurine stepping out of her shadow. Her armor dispursed into amber feathers, revealing her dark red and black outfit and coat. She shrugged on her coat better, her sword not leaving her hand.

"You've done well, Karas." Yurine told her Karas.

"I'm glad you're happy, Yurine, but now I have to get back upstairs and I'd rather _not_ go back up the elevator." Hotaru responed, closing her eyes with a sigh. "Come on, we have to touch to get me back to normal…though it's not at _cold_ when I'm like this."

Her Yurine giggled softly. "You are truly the Karas of Souls, Hotaru—strong, noble and true."

"Come on, job to do. Job to do." Hotaru told her Yurine, walking towards the apartment building again. Yurine turned into a cat and hopped onto Hotaru's shoulder, the Karas crouching and then leaping the amazing height into the air.

Hotaru almost over shot the floor she needed but a golden mandala appeared and she passed through it, going back into the clothes she arrived in with everything she had arrived with. She landed on the top of the railing on the ball of one foot, using chakra in her hand to catch herself on the edge of the next floor up, starling her spectators on her needed floor.

Hughes looked at Hotaru speechlessly and Hotaru put her finger to her lips with a wink, signally him to keep quiet. She slid off the railing and walked back into the apartment, brushing her hair off her shoulder and pushing her glasses higher up on her nose. She stopped at the puddle and stooped, dipping the pad of a finger into the concoction and rubbing it between that finger and her thumb.

"Hughes said it was a mix of human and fiend blood." Hotaru said softly, getting Ichigo and Grimmjow's attention. "But…it's more than that."

"You're not going to taste it, are you?" Ichigo asked, minor disgust in his voice. "I nearly _puked_ the _last_ time you did that."

"No, I'm not going to taste it, not this time." Hotaru reassured stepping on the air above the puddle and walking into the room. "An illegal fiend gate in a moderately human community, warrants at least 18 years."

"And all the murders?" Ichigo asked. "Ain't that life so many times over?"

"It is." Hotaru confirmed, looking around, her eyes better than Ichigo's in the half light. "These are all symbols, runes to create one's own pocket fiend realm but from the way it's written, it'd be so terribly cramped. And they're pulling the life power from the blood itself and the lives sacrificed to make it…" Hotaru touched her hand to a fresher puddle and rubbed that between her fingers and thumb. "…human and fiend are only 2 of the componants. Just from touch and the residual power, I'd have to say that there's demon, soul reaper and shinobi in the mix…but there's something else."

Hotaru walked over to the gate and touched the side of it. Power filled every pore and then suddenly cut. Ichigo shot to her side, catching and supporting her before she dropped into the blood. She leaned her head against Ichigo's shoulder with her eyes closed and breathing deeply despite the smell.

"Firefly, are you okay?" Ichigo asked, getting a soft groan.

He scooped her up and carried her out of the room and out of the apartment, setting her on her feet on the walkway. Hotaru collapsed without support and she leaned against the railing, trying to catch her breath.

Ichigo cradled her face in his hands and pushed her bangs out of her way. "What happened, Hotaru? What was that?"

"…K-Karas….the power in the blood that made the gate—it was the blood of a _Karas_." Hotaru told her partner in a low, almost scared and pained voice. "It _has_ to be Jyouru. He's the Karas of this district…he-he went _missing_ at least 3 weeks ago. The other 6 have been looking for him but they haven't had any success. I've been looking for his body on _this_ end…we found _nothing_ for those entire 3 weeks, Ichi."

"Well, now we know why Ever-Vigilant Jyouru disappeared." Ichigo got a nod, Hotaru not meeting his eyes. He could feel how clammy she was from that moment of contanct with that gate.

Ichigo caught her biceps and pulled her onto her booted feet. "C'mon. Let's get you cleaned up so you can lay down and rest. You look like you're about to pass out."

"I have to tell the others." Hotaru told Ichigo, leaning heavily on him as he supported her to the elevator. Hughes scooped up Grimmjow and followed the duet into the lift.

"Kurei's Otoha's acolyte. We tell him an' he'll tell them on your behalf." Ichigo reasoned. "You _need_ to lay down for a bit, Firefly. You're _scary_ pale, babe; not a good look for you."

Hotaru didn't argue anymore but Ichigo knew he hadn't exactly won. If he could get her back to her place and get her to sleep, then he'd count this silence as a victory but he knew Hotaru well enough that it wasn't even going to be something to be considered. Hotaru would want to stay until they found the fiend that did all that. The thing she killed wasn't the one responsible, only a squater—Ichigo knew _that_ much.

And that meant freaky whatever was still out there with another illegal gate no doubt in operation.

* * *

MWAHAHAHAHA-HA-HA....HA...ha...(cough cough)...heh.

I felt a little evil writing this, as you can tell. I was NOT gonna make it easy for them!

MWAHAHAHA!

Anyhoo....

Uh, yeah--how did you guys like the description of the armor? It's kinda rough but maybe--just maybe--I could get someone (who's DEFINITELY far more talented than I) to draw it for me.

How'd ya like the fight scene? Did that turn out all right?

If you have any questions, PM me, Review or email me with "FF.N BNW Q's" or I'll ignore it, since I don't open emails i don't recognize.

Plz read and review an' I'll do my best to get my next chap up soon.


	4. Chapter 3

Computer issues and writer's block have been the reason behind all my late updates. My most sincerest apologies to all my readers.

**Reviews:**

**Black Convoy: **I'm glad you like what I've done to Hotaru, seeing as she's grown up with people like Haruka and a lot of violence (as she is a Senshi).

And hey-when you're a planetary destroyer with THOSE good looks, you BET people are going to give her crap. After all, Michiru, Minako, Usagi, Chibi Usa and Rei wouldn't let her get away with being too bookish. XD

**Harpygirl91:** Yes. Yes, it does! X3

- /_Text text text_\ = Cybercomm

On with the display of my insanity...

* * *

Ghost in the Shell: SAC-SSS/Full Metal Alchemist/Fushigi Yuugi

Death Note/Mai-Hime/Code Geass/Sailor Moon/Shaman King

Naruto/Bleach/Karas/InuYasha

**"Brave New World"**

**Chapter 3**

The best Ichigo could do for the time being was have Hotaru sit in the back seat of their car, the door open and her face in her now cleaned hands. She wasn't wearing her rings, her sword, her rig or her belt, all of them on her coat in the middle seat. She was sitting in the cold, trying to clear her head after what had surged through her body…but that was easier said than done.

Jyouru, a Karas that had over 300 years under his belt, was _dead_. He was a candidate to be the next High Seven, no matter which seat opened up first. He had understood the problem with Hotaru being torn between so many factions and gave her advice when she needed it. He was one of the most _formidable_ of the lesser Karas and he was _dead_—for _good_.

As a High Seven, as the Karas of Souls, Hotaru should have felt him die, felt his contract with his Yurine be severed. All the High Seven should have felt their contract break…but they hadn't. Whatever this-this _thing_ was, it had to have been able to sneak into Jyouru's fiend realm without his knowing and had to have stolen his flesh body in order to use his human blood. And then he had to get a hold of Jyouru himself—easier said than done since he was a _tough_ bastard.

…but accessing a fiend realm without the Karas' knowledge was impossible, as was getting to a Karas' body. When they were Karas, as either in armor or in spirit, their flesh bodies were carefully contained and protected within a special room within their fiend realm and there were protective seals and guards around that entire level to protect it from harm or theft.

So, how did this-this _monster_ get Jyouru's flesh body?

A cup of steaming coffee entered her vision, breaking Hotaru out of her thoughts. She looked up at the one holding it, obviously out of her depth for a moment.

"Here, sweetheart, this'll help warm you back up." Only Kurei would call her "sweetheart" when she was so badly shaken.

Hotaru smiled softly and took the hot cup from him with both hands. "Thanks, Inspector Kurei."

"Ichigo's right, you don't look so good." Kurei remarked as Hotaru took a careful sip of coffee. "You're paler than you usually get after having to go Karas an' back on the fly like that."

"Otoha…Otoha told you and Yoshiko about the Karas that went missing 3 weeks ago, right?" Hotaru asked, not looking up at her senior partner.

"Yeah, he said Ol' Man Jyouru went missing." Leave it to Kurei to keep all that stuff in mind, no matter what had been going on. It was so much easier to be a Karas when there was an acolyte around, especially a _living_ Karas like Hotaru was…even if Kurei wasn't _her_ acolyte.

"Well, he's…he's no longer _missing_." Hotaru said softly, not looking up from her coffee. Kurei caught the tone she was using and he sighed heavily with an "oh, man" muttered under his breath. "Yeah…whatever this thing is, it used him to make an illegal fiend gate and all those corpses were just a part of making its own pocket fiend realm…but it'd be cramped even for me…and from the amount of blood and the _mixture_, this son of a bitch has to be pretty damn big to overwhelm a soul reapers strong enough to be seated officers and lower great demons."

"Big as in size or power?" Kurei asked.

"Both, maybe. We can't factor out size or power specifically just yet." Hotaru muttered, still not looking up from her coffee. "…we didn't even _notice_, Kurei…the High Seven didn't _feel_ anything that happened…and Jyouru was a warrior back when he died. He's paranoid like _I'm_ paranoid. His body would have been better protected than _Eko's_ and his fiend realm better guarded than that of Xi'atsu in Beijing….as a candidate for the High Seven, he shouldn't have been so easily picked _off_ like this!"

Kurei crouched and put his hand on her bare shoulder, getting her to finally look at him with teary amethyst eyes. "I'll let Otoha know of this, okay? There's no reason to get worked up over this. We need you on the top of your game if we're going to stop this thing before it goes after anyone else."

Hotaru didn't say what she was thinking but she _knew_ that they'd be a step or two behind until they got enough to get ahead. She wasn't stupid or naïve. She knew what things like this would do. She was figuring that because this one was so small, this thing would need a bigger area and more victims in order to get a fiend realm to fit its needs.

Ichigo's face appeared in a window in her field of vision. /_How you doing?\_

Hotaru took a tentative sip of coffee, and wondered why only the _police_ could find the nerve to call caffeinated _sludge_ "coffee." /_As good as it's going to get. This freaky whatever's not going to let us catch it. It's going to need more sacrifices, more room—at _least_ two lesser Karas or a High Seven in order to get a fiend realm to fit its needs and-or wants.\_

_/Yeah, I figured you'd hate this.\_ Ichigo muttered over their cybercomm. /_We've just finished up the photographing and we've collected every sample we could think of and some the lab rats thought up for us. You should see the scouring shells they sent over. They're in this toxic spill get up, like crime scene clean up. According to the Little Rat, it looks like there's something darker under the blood on the floor and possibly the walls, like some of the smears on the wall were cover-up.\_

_/I…I wouldn't doubt it.\_ Hotaru admitted with a sigh. /_The worst thing is that _none_ of us felt what was going on. This thing _has_ to be up there with Naraku and Eko. I'd say Madara or Aizen had a hand in this but it doesn't reek of ninja or Arrancar. It's more _fiend_ than anything.\_

_/Yeah, I was afraid of that. Your puddy-tat's sniffin' around this one spot in the corner. He found a dust pile, which is weird for the amount of blood in the room.\_ Ichigo said, getting Hotaru's attention.

_/Dust?\_ Hotaru repeated, thinking it over. /_Give me your eyes for a moment.\_

_/Not a problem.\_ Hotaru closed her eyes and instantly had a window fill her vision. She was back in the apartment room but it wasn't her; it was Ichigo and he was crouched on the air by Grimmjow, who was cautiously sniffing a dust pile in a corner.

_/Weird…\_ Hotaru mumbled, mostly to herself.

_/There was similar dust soaked in blood and scattered messily around the room. If the corpses weren't whole, I'd swear this thing burned its victims to ash.\_

_That_ got Hotaru's undivided attention. /_Ichi, look for something—_anything_ that shouldn't be there, like a student's notebook or a pen that looks like it's made up of bone.\_

Ichigo's vision slowly looked around, taking in everything he could. /_Care to share with the class on this, 'Taru? I didn't like that tone in your voice.\_

_/What creature dissolves to dust when it has nothing left?\_ She asked of him.

_/You mean, aside from you, and Barragan in Reciccion?\_

_/Shinigami, dumbass.\_

Ichigo stopped, minorly annoyed with his features melting into a scowl. /_Wanna repeat that for me, 'Taru?\_

Hotaru mentally sighed at her verbal selection. /_Not 'soul reaper' shinigami. I mean, the kind attached to a _death note_.\_

_/You mean, like Kira?\_ Ichigo inquired, his gears turning now.

_/Yeah. Look around, sift through the dust. The death note itself or at very least the pen should be close to the remains. The pen stays with the shinigami, acts like dog tags for identification purposes. If the pens are left behind, then it means this thing has the death notes.\_ Hotaru explained, sipping the coffee again, knowing what to expect from the cup now. /_If either are there, collect them and then leave the shells to clean up the blood smears and puddles.\_

_/You said there was something else in the blood on the floor.\ _Ichigo pointed out, getting Hotaru to sigh a bit heavily.

_/Yeah, I know.\_

_/I'll let you know when we find something.\_ Ichigo closed the link, leaving Hotaru to her churning thoughts.

Shinigami and death notes with an illegal fiend gate and a multitude of corpses in various states…this was _far_ more that it should have been. What _creature_ would use a fiend gate _and_ a death note, when any Karas burned a death note when they came across one?

Death notes were dangerous, fiend-class items. They weren't meant to be in the hands of anyone other than its breed of shinigami. It's why humans, demons and even other fiends became twisted and corrupted. There _had_ to be some reason behind all of this…there just _had_ to be….but the question was _what the _hell_ was it?_

"…this is going to be more of a nightmare than previously surmised…" Hotaru muttered into her cup of caffeinated sludge, opening her eyes part way. How the _hell_ were they going to solve this case?

A soft _meow_ made Hotaru lift her head in time to see a white cat coming at her from the air. She moved her cup out of the way in time to avoid spilling the coffee all over herself. Grimmjow landed on her knees and then circled her thighs before curling up on her lap, completely at home on Hotaru's lap. Hotaru sighed as she looked down at the cat with a slight scowl.

"What have I told you about 'Death From Above' when I'm not paying attention?" Hotaru scolded, lightly tugging on one of the feline's ears. Grimmjow just looked up at her and meowed without a care in the world about what she had said. Hotaru sighed and lightly flicked her lap occupant in the forehead. "You are _hopeless_. Why the hell do I put up with you when you totally disregard everything I'm saying and just do what you want?"

"I told you when you brought him home that he was going to be trouble and you didn't listen." Ichigo commented, walking up to his female partner. "You should have just opened up a garganta and chucked his furried ass through it."

"He was hurt. I couldn't just let him be left to get picked off." Hotaru scratched Grimmjow under his chin. "It'd be totally unfair."

"So, you turned the _Sexta Espada_ into your _pet cat_." Ichigo remarked a tad drily. "_Ye-ah_, makes _real_ sense there, 'Taru."

Hotaru gave him a bit of a scowl. "You got a reason for the attitude, Ichi, or did you period kick in at long last?"

Ichigo growled softly, running his hand through his hair. "I hate it, 'Taru. I _fucking_ hate it."

"What's got you PMSing _this_ time?" Hotaru muttered with a scowl.

"Why the hell do you _always_ have to be _right_?" Ichigo asked, mildly surprising Hotaru as he threw something on the ground between them. In the semi distant lights, Hotaru saw an evidence bag with its label staring at her. She leaned down, bending over Grimmjow and picked up the bag.

"A student's notebook…" She mumbled, looking at what the bag held. She closed her eyes and laid it on her knees. "So, I take it this is a death note?"

"Yeah, and there are _more_ where that one came from. They were in the more congealed puddles." Ichigo nodded. "And there were _pens_, too. The problem is that there are 7 pens but 6 death notes, meaning our freaky whatever has the 7th."

"…why does it _always_ have to be _7_…?" Hotaru muttered into her coffee as she took a drink. "…I don't like it. I don't like it one bit…."

Ichigo reached up to the back of his neck and drew out a black cable. "Then you're gonna like _this_ even _less_."

Hotaru looked up and saw the offered cable. She took it and handed him her coffee cup. Lifting up her hair with one hand, she used the other to plug the cable into the back of her neck. She then closed her eyes as another window appeared into her vision and then overwhelmed it.

She was back in the apartment's room, the cleaning shells scrubbing on the floor and walls. A shell moved back from the walls to move onto another section. On the wall, carved and then filled with blood to make it look like a proper engraving…but it wasn't the fact that it was covered in even more blood to hide it that was the problem. As she looked at the engraving, just glancing at it at first to look at the other things uncovered….but then she stopped and looked back at the engraving, reading it over slowly.

The voice muttering curses in the background wasn't hers but _Ichigo's_.

He was showing her one of his _memories_.

"…'The World We Knew is Gone…The World We Know is a Perversion…This is a Declaration of War Upon This World to Cleanse the Unpure…This is to Cleanse This So-called "_Brave New World_"….in Accordance With…With the Will of…the _Will of God_'?" Hotaru repeated as she unplugged the cable and looked up at Ichigo, handing it back to him. "Was that all of it, that wall full of writing?"

"Yeah, it was." Ichigo nodded, taking his cable back. He let it retract into the back of his neck again. "Why ask? What is it? You recognize where it's from, don't you?"

"I…I _think_ I do but…" Hotaru put her hand to her head. She squeezed her eyes shut. "But I can't be _sure_, dammit! I _know_ I've heard it somewhere before…but _where_ and _when_ could I have heard something like _this_…?"

"It is _really_ that bad?" Ichigo asked. "I mean, you only repeated the part in the middle."

"The rest was so badly damaged by whatever was in that room _first_, that was all I could read." Hotaru admitted, opening her eyes part way and speaking softly. "Besides, it was in another language—German, I think—but there was some in consistencies that my translation software was probably compensating, translating whatever it was into Japanese." She closed her eyes again. "Maybe the Lab Rats can figure it out and where it's from."

Ichigo picked the death note up off her knees. "What are we going to do about _this_ in the mean time? You gotta burn it, right? With that lighter in your coat pocket?"

"Which I can't do since it's evidence. Since that damned mass-murder spree back when we were in middle school, it's agreed by all members of the High Seven that if a death note is evidence in an on-going investigation with a Karas as a member of the investigating party, then the burning of said death note—or death _notes_, in this case—shall be put off until the investigation is over and it will be in the care of that Karas, in their fiend realm." Hotaru said as she scratched Grimmjow under the chin, getting him to purr and lean his head back to give her better access.

"So, what are we going to do about these things' involvement?" Ichigo asked, getting Hotaru to sigh as he took a sip of her coffee and then pulled a face at the taste. "…._God_, this stuff is _nasty_…"

"That's obvious, isn't it, Ichi?" Hotaru asked in return, getting his attention. "It's called for, isn't it?"

"You _can't_ be serious, 'Taru." Ichigo half demanded. "That's-that's _suicide_! Worse yet—that's what the sick bastard _wants_."

"I know but that doesn't change that fact, does it?" Hotaru replied, getting him to look at her in surprise.

His temper got the better of him, fisting the paper cup and spilling coffee over his hand and onto the ground. "It's what he fucking _wants_—don't you _get_ that?"

Hotaru smirked softly, her eyes half open, distant and cold. "And that's why I have to see him, Ichi. That's why I have to see _Kira_."

* * *

This...this can NOT be good.

Though, Kitty Grimmjow's definitely adorable! And don't worry, he'll act like himself in the next couple chapters-hell, he may even make a full-bodied appearance as his sexy Sexta Espada self.

Yes-I'm gushing over a Anime Bishi-AND I AM PROUD OF IT!

Please, read and review! I'd really appreciate it!


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